Fruit-gatherer



(No Model.)

J. A. FERGUSON.

FRUIT GATHERBR.

Patented May 19, 1891.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN A. FERGUSON, OF GATES, TENNESSEE.

FRUlT-GATHERER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 452,493, dated May 19,1891.

Application filed July 25, 1890. Serial No- |3 N m e -l To all whom itmay concern:

easy reach of the operator.

The object of the invention is to provide a devicewhich shall beextremelylight in weight and simple in construction, and in which therewill be little danger of any of the parts catching in the boughs orbranches of the tree during the operation of gathering the fruit. Thisobject I accomplish by my improved fruitgatherer, which consists,essentially, of a hollow staff, a removable coil mounted thereon,

and provided with a bow at its upper end, a-

moving jaw pivoted to this bow, a fabric tube extending from the lowerend of said bow and jaw and preferably connected with said coil, and anoperating-cord passing through the staff and adapted to close the jaw,as well as of certain adj unctive and specific details of constructionassisting in the accomplishment of the above object, all as hereinaftermore fully described, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, inwhich- Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved fruit-gatherercomplete. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the coil and bow. Fig. 3 is adetail View of the movable jaw. Fig. 4 is an enlarged perspective Viewshowing the manner in which this jaw is pivoted to the bow and in whichit is controlled by the operatingcord. Fig. 5 is a sectional view of thestaff.

Fruit-gatherers have been heretofore constructed wherein a flexible tubewas supported by a rigid staff, and jaws at the upper end of the latteropening into the tube were controlled by means of a cord led downwardlyto within reach of the operator. This is the general form of device Iemploy in the pres ent instance, and I will now describe the same inconnection with the details of its construction.

The letter S designates the staff, which is preferably of cane, althoughother. light and together, forming the helix H, which tightly surroundsthe upper extremity of the staff. The wire is continued from this helixin a short horizontal arm A, at the outer end of which it is led into asemicircular bow B, and the tip of this bow has a second shorthorizontal arm A. The coil'and helix are passed over a staif, the helixpreferably fitting in a shoulder out upon the exterior of the staff fora slight distance from its upper extremity, and it will be understoodthat this staff may be removed and a longer or shorter one substitutedat will according as the height'of the tree fromwhich the fruit is to begathered necessitates.

The letter J designates a wire jaw having eyes j at its ends, whichloosely embrace and turn upon said short horizontal arms A, all asillustrated in Fig. 4.

The letter T designates a tube composed of fabric and whose upper end issewed or otherwise secured to the bow and to the jaw.

The body of this tube passes downwardly alongside the coil 0,130 whichit is preferably secured by stitches z, and below the coil the tube isextended to a considerable length.

Its lower end is closed, and its body near said lower end, andpreferably at one or two'other points in its length, is provided withopenings O for the removal of the fruit.

An operating cord or small rope R passes through the longitudinal holein the staff and is led from the upper end thereof through an eye I inthe bow and connected at its free end to the jaw J in about the positionshown in Fig. 4.

The operator, standing beneath the tree upon which the fruit is growing,raises the fruit gatherer above described and places over the piece offruit the mouth of the device, which stands norinally open from theweight of the tube. The operating cord or rope is then pulled,wherebythe jaw is closed against the bow upon the stem of the piece of fruit. Adownward movement is given to the ICO entire device, whereby said stemis broken and the piece of fruit is picked, and the latter runs downwithin the tube to the closed lower end thereof. The operator thenwitl1- draws the piece of fruit from the opening 0 in the side of thetube and repeats the operation, as may be desired.

\Vhen this improved device is to be used upon rather high trees, anotherand a longer staff is substituted for that shown, and anotheroperating-rope long enough to pass through it is of course required. Ipropose to manufac ture this improved fruitgatherer with two lengths oftube, those with short tubes being sold with a short staff only tofrnit-gatherers whose trees are all comparatively small and those withlonger tubes being sold with two lengths of staff to fruit-growers whoseorchards comprise trees of various sizes and heights. In the lattercase, when the short staff is used, the lower end of the long tube mustbe rolled up, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, and the fruit as it ispicked is removed from one of the upper openings 0 in the side of 'thetube instead of from that near the lower end, all as will be understood.

This improved device grasps only the stems of the fruit and conveysapples, pears, peaches, apricots, plums, cherries, and the like down thetube without any injury whatever to the pieces of fruit at any time orto the tree in the act of picking. The inclosing of the oper ating-ropewithin a tubular staff prevents the catching of the same upon thebranches or leaves of the tree, and the attaching of the tube to thecoil and thereby to the staff permits the whole device to be operated asone piece and to be passed skillfully between branches and pieces offruit to grasp a ripe piece that may be hanging upon one of the topmostbranches of a very high tree.

hat I claim is- 1. In a fruit-gatherer, the combination, with pickingdevices, substantially as described, a

coil having a reduced helix at its upper end by which said devices aresupported, and a flexible tube leadingdownwardly from said devices andconnected to the members of said coil, of a tubular staff havingareducedshoulder removably inserted in said helix and coil and an operating-cordpassing through said staff and connected at its upper end to saiddevices, as set forth.

2. The staff S, having a reduced shoulder at its upper end, incombination with the coil C, embraein g the body of the staff, theintegral helix ll, fitting said shoulder, and the picking devices andoperating devices connected thereto, substantially as described.

3. The how 15, having horizontal arms A at its ends and an eye I in itsbody, and a support for said bow, in combination with the jaw J, havingeyes j at its ends loosely embracing said horizontal arms, and anoperating-cord R, connected to said jaw, passing through said eye, andleading through guides in the support, substantially as described.

at. The staff S, havingareduced shoulder at its upper end, incombination wit-h the coil C, embracing the body of this staff, theintegral helix H, fitting said shoulder and continued at its upper endinto a short horizontal arm A, the integral bow B, continued from theend of said arm, the integral horizontal arm A at the other side of thehow, the jaw J, having eyes j at its ends loosely embracing saidhorizontal arms, and an operating-cord It, passing through said coil andhelix and adapted to close said jaw, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as myown I have hereto affixedmy signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN A. FERGUSON.

Witnesses:

W. B. Moons, .T. F. GARVIN.

